Your right to a bank account with IEDOM

Having a bank account is a French legal right that everyone has. Having an account is important in terms of :

• Access to basic banking services : A bank account allows you to receive your salary, pay your bills and manage your budget more efficiently ;
• Security : Keeping your money in a bank is safer than keeping it in cash at home ;
• Financial inclusion : This helps you to partcipate fully in economic and social life.

The right to a bank account is open to anyone:

• Who lives in France, regardless of nationality, as well as French citizens living abroad, or foreigners legally resident in a European Union country other than France ;
• Who doesn’t have a bank account in their name and have been refused an account by a bank ;
• Who has a joint bank account but have been refused an individual bank account ;
• Whose bank account is in the process of being closed.

1 A bank refuses to open you a business bank account :

You must have sent your application for a bank account by a registered letter or delivered it in person against a receipt at the counter of a bank.
If you do not receive a reply from the bank within 15 days, the bank’s silence is deemed to be a refusal.

2 Compiling your file

To complete your application, you must submit :

• The completed and signed application form (available below or from your IEDOM office) ;
• A certificate of refusal to open an account issued by a bank in your name. If you have not received this certificate, you must provide a copy of the acknowledgement of receipt of a registered letter requesting the opening of an account. Otherwise, you will have to provide proof of hand delivery of the request, dated more than 15 days previously ;
• A copy of a valid double-sided identity document ;
• Proof of adress less than 3 months old.
  In this file, you can indicate the bank where you would like your account to be domiciled. But please notice that this is not the bank that will necessarily be chosen.

3 Send your application to IEDOM:

Once you have filled in the form, you can submit your application :

• Directly online Banque de France personal area ;
• At an IEDOM office
  IEDOM will examine your application and, if it is complete, will designate a bank to open your account within 24 hours.

4 Oppening your account :

Once you have been appointed, the bank must send you, within 3 days, a list of the documents you need to open the account, together with the name and contact details of the branch concerned. You must then contact the bank to proceed with opening the account. If you provide all the required documents, the bank must open an account for you within 3 days of receiving them.

The designated bank must provide you with at least the following services free of charge :

• A payment card with systematic authorisation ;
• Deposit of cheques and receipt of bank transfers;
• SEPA direct debits and SEPA credit transfers ;
• Remote access to your account balance and monthly statements ;
• Over-the-counter cash deposits and withdrawals ;
• Two bank cheques per month or equivalent means of payment

This service is designed to ensure that no-one is excluded from the banking system and to help everyone manage their money safely and efficiently. If you have any questions or need help with your application, IEDOM is there to assist you every step of the way.